Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 20: All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has urged the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir to shelve the proposal of unbundling the Power Development Department (PDD) of the Union Territory till the J&K assembly is formed as electricity is a concurrent subject.
AIPEF in its letter to J&K LG Governor has mentioned that it would be incorrect to carry out drastic changes in the PDD when the assembly has not been formed. It would be against the constitution to ignore the public opinion and opinion of electricity consumers in the matter of privatizing the Power Development Department.
The objective of combining generation, distribution and transmission under one integrated in one company is stated as a matter of policy for the states to adopt. The states are empowered and at liberty to restructure their respective power utilities so as to achieve the objective of integrated operation since electricity is a concurrent subject.
AIPEF mentioned in its letter that unbundling of distribution, transmission and generation is not mandatory as per Electricity Act 2003. Kerala and Himachal Pradesh have kept the integrated utility in the name of KSEB Ltd and HPSEB Ltd respectively.
“Every state has one SLDC where the entire state is considered as one control area. This gives SLDC a clear advantage to manage load dispatch over the state as one entity. With one state Discom concept the state hydro generation can be optimally dispatched by SLDC in the most economic and optimum manner,” the Federation said in its letter.
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